1. Field
A positioning device for an X-ray detector and an X-ray source is provided.
2. Related Art
X-ray machines serve to take X-ray images, by means of an X-ray detector and an X-ray source. In the medical field, bodies or body parts of patients are X-rayed in various positions and from various directions for diagnosis purposes. Patient-support tables are used so the patient or body part can lie or sit while being examined.
In X-ray machines with patient-support tables, the X-ray detector is usually located under the tabletop, while an X-ray source X-rays the patient from above. A corresponding arrangement of X-ray sources and an X-ray detector can be achieved by using a so-called C-arm, for instance, which carries the sources and detector on diametrically opposed ends. This arrangement can also be achieved by means of a separate disposition of the X-ray detector in the patient-support table and of the X-ray source on a free-standing tripod or a tripod secured to the ceiling of the room.
To make different radioscopy directions possible, the X-ray source may be movably supported on a tripod in all directions in space. However, on a C-arm, the X-ray source is fixed and is movable solely by moving the C-arm itself. The X-ray detector is located on a C-arm and is always diametrically opposite the X-ray source. Thus, the X-ray detector is movable only to a limited extent as the patient-support device is being moved toward the X-ray detector.
Depending on where the X-ray machine is used, the freest possible adjustability of the radioscopy direction may be desired, for instance in radiation monitoring of interventional procedures in surgery or interventional cardiology. The radioscopy direction must be adjustable such that the various surgical steps are optimally visible in the X-ray projection. At the same time, the freest possible accessibility of the patient-supporting table and the patient lying on the table is of particular significance. C-arm X-ray machines are therefore often used in interventional use. While C-arm X-ray machines have advantages because of the particularly flexible (capable of various positions) capabilities of orientation, the C-arm is relatively bulky and hinders access to the patient. The size and arrangement of the C-arm limits the possibilities for using C-arm equipment.
From European Patent Disclosure EP 1 129 664, a patient-support table with a flexibly positionable X-ray detector is known. The X-ray detector is longitudinally displaceable under the tabletop of the device. The X-ray detector is also pivotable out of the device transversely to the longitudinal direction and can be tilted in such a way that X-ray detector is oriented perpendicular to the tabletop. When this patient-support device is used in combination with an X-ray source that is movable in all directions, various radioscopy directions can be flexibly set (adjusted), and the accessibility of a patient lying on the tabletop is not restricted by a C-arm. However, the variation of the radioscopy directions is not continuously adjustable in the same way as with a C-arm machine. Thus, a surgeon must accustom himself to the handling of the device and the X-ray images that can be made using the device.